NMHC 50 Lists Show Continued Apartment Demand

The apartment sector continued its record run, reflected in the National Multifamily Housing Council’s (NMHC) newly released 2017 NMHC 50 – the authoritative ranking of the nation’s largest apartment owners, manager, developers, general contractors, and, new this year, syndicators.

MAA (headquartered in Memphis, Tenn.) is the country’s largest apartment owner, with 99,393 apartment homes owned. Propelling MAA to the top of the list was its acquisition of Post Properties and its 24,000 apartments.

Greystar Real Estate Partners (headquartered in Charleston, S.C.) remained the largest apartment manager, with 415,634 apartments under management.

Greystar Real Estate Partners also jumped to the top of the apartment developers list this year through its 7,623 apartments started in 2016.

Alliance Residential Company (headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz.) retained its spot as the nation’s top general contractor for the second year in a row, starting 6,933 apartments in 2016.

“Whether it’s rent growth, occupancy or absorptions, key industry metrics continued to show 2016 as one of the strongest years on record for the apartment industry,” said Mark Obrinsky, NMHC’s Senior Vice President of Research and Chief Economist. “Any way you slice it, last year was a tremendous one for multifamily.”

Additional industry and NMHC 50 highlights:

9.1 million – Growth in renter households over the past decade, according to the Census Bureau.

1,992,700 – Number of units owned in the NMHC 50 ownership list, representing 9.6 percent of the total apartment stock in the U.S.

3,177,852 – Number of units managed in the NMHC 50 management list, an all-time high and a 4.3 percent growth over last year.

96.2 percent – Occupancy rate in 2016, the highest since 2000, according to MPF Research.

311,700 – Number of apartments completed in 2016, according to the Census Bureau.

289,025 – Absorptions of apartments, which is 87 percent higher than historical average, according to MPF Research.

$159.4 billion – Total transaction volume for 2016, a new record according to Real Capital Analytics.

NMHC partners with Kingsley Associates, a leading real estate research and consulting firm for the NMHC 50’s research and analysis. All apartment owners, managers, developers, general contractors and syndicators are invited to answer a survey questionnaire that asks about their prior year activities. Apartment owners, managers and syndicators are ranked based on their portfolio holdings (either owned or managed) as of January 1, 2017, while developers and general contractors are ranked based on the number of units started in 2016.